After a little bit of unplanned sight-seeing we located this café down a minor road just outside Harleston. It is situated opposite Shotford Hall Farm in a new, purpose-built addition to the farm complex, and very nice it is too. Light and airy, fresh and cheery were my first impressions, and as the meal progressed my instincts proved to be right. There were tables inside and out, and I had phoned ahead to make sure there would be a table for us: arriving at 12 noon we discovered the place to be comfortably busy, and it filled up quite soon after our arrival. We said we were gasping for a drink, and I was delighted when my black coffee came with a little jug of cold water to reduce its temperature.

This is a week-end only café, open from 9 till 4 on Saturday and Sunday, and is staffed by energetic and charming individuals: sadly not licenced but offering a range of hot and cold drinks. The menu offers snacks, breakfasts and sandwiches, and a range of tempting dishes, but ‘proper gravy dinners’ are not offered; nor are hot puddings with custard. It specialises in light lunches – and excels at it.

I chose the Mackerel Pâté with toast and salad, and it was lovely comprising a very good sized portion of pâté, wholemeal toast and mixed salad without raw onion as, for once, I remembered to ask for it to be omitted. My friend dithered between Eggs Benedict, Eggs Florentine and Eggs Royale, but plumped for the Royale version with poached eggs, smoked salmon and the most dreamy Hollandaise sauce. Both meals were excellent; not too large but satisfying and refreshing.

Having being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I have not eaten cake – in any form – since the beginning of April. Now I discover that I am not very diabetic (if that is possible) and certainly not on the danger list, so I determined to have some sort of sweet, gooey afters. There were several gateau type cakes to choose from, and to compound my transgression I asked for a scoop of Suffolk Meadow ice cream to accompany my lemon drizzle cake. Let me tell you, after four months without cake it was pure heaven, and was zingy with lemon, and squishily moist. My friend chose the coffee and walnut cake which looked divine, and according to her was fabulous. There is also a gluten free cake option, and fruit cake, and all are very reasonably priced.

I really enjoyed being at this place; the staff were cheery and welcoming, and our waitress explained that I could have had something more diabetically suitable for afters – like an apple and cheese – if I had wanted. Next time perhaps. We both found the room a bit noisy, and I think curtains might address that problem.

They also hire out the venue for special groups, and it is well worth looking at their website for further details of farm visits, educational facilities, and conference catering. They are very versatile and flexible.

The bill came to £21.80 which is one of the cheapest ladies who lunches I have done. I suppose that is due to the lack of alcoholic drinks.

marsh larder
c/o Autumn Cottage
SHOTFORD HALL
Mendham Low Road
Harleston
Norfolk
IP20 9QU
01379 854714
07767 708106

http://marshlarder.co.uk/
E-mail:

The more perceptive of you may have noticed the absence of Ladies who Lunch recently: well I have been a bit poorly. I am recovering slowly, but unfortunately the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is the last thing that a restaurant reviewer needs. My puddings!!! How can I write about squidgy, sweet, chocolatey things now? How can I eat only three chips and leave the rest? We shall have to see how things progress. I will carry on writing when I can, and for those of you who share my condition, the food I will be eating will be ‘suitable for diabetics’ and those on a weight-loss diet.

But I did want to tell you about a lovely pub restaurant I went to recently; it is 100% vegetarian and can cater for vegan, and gluten intolerant individuals too: they even crafted me a bespoke pudding so I didn’t feel left out. It’s the Walnut Tree at Thwaite on the A 140 between Diss and Ipswich, (nearer to Diss though), and bang on the side of the A 140, and easy to find.  

Our party consisted of six old friends who met at college and have been in touch ever since: it’s a lovely way to catch up with the news and reminisce about the olden days!

The pub is light, bright and warm, and the dining area spacious; the service is brisk and attentive without being in any way oppressive. Once we all had our drinks – mine being the tiniest bit of Prosecco, honestly – we turned to the menu to make our choices. Some of the mains were a little complicated for me, too much fat, too much carbohydrate, that sort of thing, so I decided on having a starter as a main, I chose the vegetable soup with an extra side order of fresh vegetables. The other five round the table chose Thyme roasted squash, goats cheese and pecan tart with baby potatoes and a rocket and pear salad; Lentil, Vegetable and Red Wine Ragout, Served with freshly cooked linguine and garlic ciabatta, and an asparagus turnover cooked in puff pastry. Silence then descended which is rare when we six meet up, but the food was fabulous and we all cleared our plates in no time at all.

As I said, I had privately arranged for a bespoke pudding, so I turned a blind eye to the Pear Crumble with cream to the left of me, the Sweet potato, cinnamon & pecan pie with custard, to the right of me, and the Lemon Posset opposite. I tucked into my Emmental cheese and fresh pear and was more than satisfied. Four of us had a selection of coffees to follow; thank heaven I have not been forbidden my beloved espresso!

I really liked this place; the staff were so friendly, the place clean and welcoming – great big foliage plants on all the windowsills, and for once I got a decent serving of properly cooked fresh vegetables. The loos are immaculate and easy to get to: the disabled access is ‘doable’ although there are a couple of steps into the building; help will be given.

The bill for all six of us came to just over the £100 mark, so that’s about £17 each; jolly good value for money.

OPENING HOURS

Mondays: CLOSED
Tuesdays: 11 am - 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Wednesdays: 11 am - 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Thursdays: 11 am - 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Fridays: 11 am - 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Saturdays: 11 am - 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Sundays: 12 pm - 4:30 pm

Norwich Road
Thwaite
Eye
IP23 7ED
01449 766003

https://www.thewalnuttreethwaite.com/

One of my favourite up-market eateries, The Boars, has recently changed hands, and I was interested to see what changes – if any – have been made. I have eaten there half a dozen times in the past and always enjoyed the food and the company.

Car parking is not the easiest, and it pays to arrive early, and turn your car round ready for a painless exit; it gets crowded out there!

We were shown to our reserved table by a Nice Young Man, and were handed a newspaper-style menu each; there were also specials on a blackboard which caught my eye. While we perused the options, I started on my cool draft Adnams Southwold ale, and my companion drank her San Perito: the menu included pork, beef, duck, bream, smoked mackerel, and two vegetarian options. I liked the idea of the red onion tart with goats cheese and leeks, and my friend asked for the smoked mackerel.

Nice Young Man brought our food after about 25 minutes which gave us time to study the other pages of the menu. There is a Little Piglets’ section with two courses for a reasonable £7, and a Sunday menu showing the roasts – Sirloin of Beef, Chicken, Loin of Pork, and a Nut Roast – all at £12 to £13. Interestingly the Christmas special 3 course lunch with a free glass of wine was only £29, so roll-on next December!

I discovered my buttered leeks hiding under the onion tart that was surrounded by red pepper pesto; the beetroot and the pomegranate seeds added a sweet and bright red touch to the meal which was generously proportioned and extremely tasty. By this time, my friend had all but finished her smoked haddock and was waiting for Nice Young Man to bring her a spoon to finish up the sauce. Cubes of garlic potato and fennel and chicory surrounded her generous portion of fish. Both dishes had pea shoots scattered over them giving a light-hearted touch with their curly tendrils.

For pudding I had spotted an Orange and Cointreau Panna Cotta with Cranberry Ice Cream. It came with cranberries sprinkled over it. Delicious, and not too sickly sweet. A generous size serving at a reasonable price. My friend chose – from the regular menu – Star Anise and Red Wine Poached Pear with orange sponge and vintage orange marmalade which she pronounced perfect, especially the orange sponge.

A couple of espressos finished the meal off beautifully, and they were hot and strong, and came with a lovely freshly baked Christmassy biscuit each.

I really enjoyed this meal, and the place is warm and very friendly. If you want peace and quiet away from the food, there is a dog-friendly snug with a log fire. For followers of the Gin craze, there are 12 different gins on the menu, and the same number of Whiskeys

Onion Tart 12.00
Mackerel 13.00
Panna Cotta 7.00
Poached Pear 6.00
Beer (half) 1.90
Wine 4.20
2 coffees 5.00

Total 49.10

The Boars
Bunwell Road, Spooner Row, Wymondham, Norfolk
NR18 9LL.
Call 01953 605851.

https://www.theboars.co.uk/

The Foundry Garden Centre is on the A. 140 between Tasburgh and Newton Flotman, on the West side. It’s a fast stretch of road, and the main buildings are set well back, so it’s easy to whizz past, and not easy to find somewhere to turn round: it is really worth visiting their website for directions, and while you are there you can familiarise yourself with the place. There are photos of the coffee shop which are by no means ‘glossed up’ for the website, this is exactly what it looks like – clean, smart, bright and friendly.

This ‘eatery’ is called a coffee shop, but the range of food is much wider than that, offering sandwiches, jacket spuds, and panini, together with proper cooked lunches like we had.
Having spent more than I should on plants and bulbs, we retired to the café and ordered. I chose the salmon, new potatoes and salad, and my friend had a vegetarian chilli with rice and what was referred to as a salad garnish. As the café is not licensed we bought cool fizzy elderflower drinks; incidentally we were assured that we could bring our own alcoholic drinks if we wished. The staff were obviously very happy and therefore cheerful and willing; our lady offered to carry the tray of drinks to our table if we wished; being reasonably agile for our age, we declined.
There are tables outside but the weather was just too challenging to use them so we sat inside.

The tables in the café each had fresh flowers, and at least half the tables were filled with customers. By the time we left the place was totally full – and that was on a Monday.
When the food arrived we were both surprised at the size of the servings; my beautifully cooked salmon was generously proportioned, and my friend’s chilli was carefully balanced with the portion of rice: her salad ‘garnish’ was plentiful, and the chilli was not fiery at all.
Pudding! Oh how could I resist the idea of treacle sponge with ice cream (cream was an alternative)? My friend had spotted the remaining part of a chocolate, courgette and walnut cake, and imagined that – if she ordered it - it would be cut in half. Not so! The whole chunk was hers; I eased her conscience by telling her that the courgette qualified as one of her five-a-day.
When my treacle sponge arrived at the table I saw that it was similar in size, and appeared to be soaked in syrup, not just sitting in a miserly bit at the bottom. Oh bliss; the fabulous old-fashioned taste of it reminded me of my granny’s treacle sponge; I could have cried! The chocolate cake was not over-sweet as can sometimes be, and not a crumb remained.
Going back to the counter, I was pleased to notice that all the food preparation was done in plain sight; salads being made almost to order. Again I was offered the chance to have the tray of coffees carried to the table.

The bottom line was £36, but even if wine had been available, I doubt it would have exceeded £40. Lots of different cakes for about £3 a mega-slice.

The only (very minor) minus point is that the loos are outside – not far – but might necessitate a short walk in the cold or rain. All areas are disabled friendly, and there is acres of parking, and a wheel chair to borrow.

Best lunch for ages; and great plants too.

The Foundry Plant Centre, on A140
Tasburgh
NR15 1NS
Phone: 01508 470 357

http://www.foundryplantcentre.co.uk/